Hello,
Thank you for creating an informative website. We are looking for a nontoxic mattress that uses wool as a flame retardant. Is there any showrooms that you recommend we can visit in the Chicago land area to try out various mattresses? We currently sleep on an innerspring mattress but would like to see how it differs from a latex.
Looking at the forum’s manufacturing membership list, the only one with a showroom in the greater Chicagoland area is Quality Sleep Shop/My Green Mattress in La Grange Highlands and they do have both latex and innerspring mattresses. Sleep on Latex is also in the Chicago area but apparently doesn’t have a showroom. Hope this helps!
Hi kuzo,
You’re welcome, and welcome to the Mattress Forum! 
“Toxic” is a term for poisonous substances produced within living cells or organisms, although the term is often used in the mattress industry (and often part of some “fear-mongering” campaigns), but I think I understand your point. Most people that are looking for “non-toxic” (toxicity is dose-dependent) mattresses or materials are usually concerned most with “safety”.
As there is quite a bit of confusing information available online about toxicity, safety and organic , there is more about the different types of organic and safety certifications such as Oeko-tex, Eco-Institut, Greenguard Gold, C2C, and CertiPUR-US in post #2 here, and more about some of the differences between organic and safety certifications in post #2 here and there are also some comments in post #42 here that can help you decide whether an organic certification is important to you for environmental, social, or personal reasons, or whether a “safety” certification is enough, and what those certifications can mean to determine whether the contents of any particular mattress are “safe enough” for you.
Subject to first confirming that any retailer or manufacturer on the list that you wish to visit is completely transparent ( see this article ) and to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines here … there is a list of some other retailers in the Chicago area here . My Green Mattress and Beloit Mattress Company are the closest site members to the Chicagoland area (depending upon the suburb you’re from) and they both offer latex mattresses using wool as the flame retardant barrier, and on the Chicago list I provided there are also a few other stores offering all-latex offerings using wool for the flame retardant barrier as well. If you are going to pay a visit to any of these businesses, I would phone ahead to make sure that they have the specific style of mattress on display in which you have an interest. Additionally, if you are curious, there is more information about fire retardant methods that are commonly used in the industry in post #2 here and in post #4 here.
If you have any other questions after your visits, I’ll be happy to do my best to be assistive.
Phoenix